Friday, July 1, 2011

From the Vaults: Pyramid Gap 2009

While looking through my hard drive recently, I stumbled up some photos that I've always liked, but never posted. It was in March of 2009 when some friends and I set out to hit one of Utah's most famous jumps: Pyramid Gap.

To properly execute this 90 foot gap jump, it usually takes a good crew and a few days of building the jump and in-run. This also means you and your crew will be missing out on 2 or 3 good pow days. We, however, took a haphazard approach and hit it after it was already built (albeit not the best build ever). It still required getting there before sunrise and doing a lot of preparation on the in-run. The in-run is the biggest challenge on pyramid because any little bump will throw you off when dropping in at 55 mph.

Stepping out the in-run

As we were smoothing out the in-run, a guy approached us and asked if he could take some pictures. That guy turned out to be none other than Bruce Tremper, a legend of the Wasatch who worked for the Utah Avalanche Center and literally wrote the book on avalanche safety. Naturally we obliged. It turns out Bruce is also a very talented photographer! With both Bruce and Chris Shifrar, we ended up getting some cool images.

Me getting the first hit. Photo: Bruce Tremper

Another angle. Photo: Chris Shifrar

Carston doing his thing. Photo: Bruce Tremper

Another angle of Carston. Photo: Chris Shifrar

Sean Kelly. Photo: Bruce Tremper

Sean Kelly. Photo: Chris Shifrar

Sean Kelly hitting the wall. One of the best impact photos of all time. Photo: Bruce Tremper

After myself, Carston, and Sean Kelly had one try each, a strong head wind picked up and we had to call it quits. I hope to make another attempt on this beast again in the future.